Sailing through the Troubled Waters of Foreign Policy Dilemmas, Domestic Political Polarization and Cultural Clashes

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Has Trump Finally, Finally, Finally Gone too Far?

Boy I hope so and it seems so, but the Svengali has managed to transmogrify so many traditional negatives into positives, I will wait for some confirmation in polls before popping any champagne bottles.

Of course I am talking about his accusing Judge Curiel in his Trump University case of making many unfair judgements against him because of the judge’s Mexican heritage and Trump’s plan to build a wall. I’m one who is hesitant to use the word “racism” because it seldom illuminates anything, but in this case I’ll make an exception. The fact Trump added that a Muslim judge might also be unfit to judge a case against him – because of his Muslim ban – well, one has to wonder if there is anyone sufficiently fit to judge the Donald.

Trump has gone so far wrong that many well known Republicans and the Wall Street Journal have denounced his words, with the Journal telling Trump he should apologize to the judge. But, that is not Trump’s style. So supporters have pulled together a defense of insinuation because Judge Curiel is a member of the La Raza Lawyers Association, which does support Latino lawyers.

From that they jump to accusing the organization of being involved in violent anti-Trump demonstrations, while giving it the same in depth analysis they did with connecting Ted Cruz’ father to the death of Jack Kennedy, or the foundational Trump lie, the birther conspiracy.

So, if Trump wants what seems to be a nice white likely Christian to judge him, how about Steve Brill? An award winning journalist with a Yale law degree, Mr. Brill has read all the court documents and calls Trump University a “scam”. He adds that the judge, if anything, has been too responsive to Trump’s arguments at the expense of the plaintiffs. He also notes that Trump lawyers have not asked for the judge to be recused, which is what you do if you actually want a new judge.

What Brill, among many have suggested, is that Trump is trying to get us to forget what seem the damning particulars of the case, and ponder instead the judge’s legitimacy.

Brill also brings up a broader very important point and that is how the press generally has let Trump get by with saying things like “many lawyers tell me” (many military experts tell me, many many whomevers tell me). Brill says he’d like to know the name of one lawyer not intimately involved with the Trump campaign who would speak in his defense.

Occasionally someone has argued that Trump has never really wanted to become president, but just to show he could be if he wanted to. His biggest win yet. That fits my sense that as much as he likes to win, he’s happy to move on to something else once he does. If so, perhaps this is the first big step on his way to intentional self-destruction. It would let him off the hook while he still could always brag that he could have made America great again, if we had not been so stupid to vote against him.

Hey, Donald, I hope you get the chance to call me stupid.

P. S. – Here’s a link to a New York Times article which provides background information on the case, including the story of Curiel facing death threats when a young prosecutor going after Mexican drug lords early in his career.

IN A NUTSHELL…..

This blog will examine whether we Americans are to be masters of our destiny or victims of fate. We live in an age of increasing complexity, misinformation and ever more rapid change. We face grave problems as a nation, yet we are so polarized that we can't stand to speak with those who differ with us about them. Are we just passengers on our own Titanic? Or can we come together to save the ship? That's the central issue this blog will revolve around.

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